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Frequently Asked Questions

Who We Are

Musician Nerd is a musical instrument review platform offering our readers in-depth knowledge on a variety of products, helping them to make intelligent purchases.

Like our name suggests, we absolutely love music & musical instruments, and have spent a lot of time playing with them. It's this deep love and passion for what we work with that allows us to provide you with the most genuine, thoughtful, and honest reviews.

Down below we've listed a few common questions we get emails about, and decided to address them here for anyone else who may want to know the answers. If you cannot find the information you're looking for, or you just want to learn more about what we do, feel free to email us at info@musiciannerd.com.

The answer to that question heavily depends on a multitude of factors. How much you can afford to invest in a microphone, the type of audio you'll be recording, and the noise level of your environment will all lead you to different answers. We've written a Complete Guide on how to assess these factors.
This is a question we get often. People immediately assume because of the overall look & price of condenser microphones and their common use in professional settings would mean they're better, but contrary to that belief, like many other things, it really depends. For example, I wouldn't typically recommend a condenser microphone for singing on stage, and in many circumstances, I like to use the Shure SM7B Cardioid Dynamic Microphone in the studio. What is "better" is always on a case-by-case basis.
Condenser microphones are well-known for their extremely low self-noise. However, this advantage will most often apply to well-built mics, particularly as you get into the $250+ range, but significantly more in the $500+ range. A cheap condenser microphone may generate more noise than a high-end Dynamic microphone. On top of that, it's important to remember, Condenser microphones are extremely sensitive and do not have the same cardioid response pattern that blocks sound pickup as some dynamic microphones.
It seems everyone wants to know XLR vs. USB microphones. We recently did a deep comparison, and the answer we came up with was it depends. It depends on what's most important for you. While both microphones are engineered the same, the XLR microphones have a little boost in quality, while the USB microphones drop off a bit on the analog conversion. But is that little quality boost worth buying a preamp and possibly an audio interface, or would you rather sit your microphone on your desk and plug it right into your computer? You can read more about it in our article: Understanding The Difference Between XLR Microphones and USB Microphones.

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A tool to find the perfect microphone for your needs & budget